...Assess the contributions interactionism has made to or understanding of society. Being an interpretivist theory, interactionism is “sensitive to the self conscience”, and contrasts dramatically with earlier structural theories such as functionalism and Marxism. Unlike these theories, interactionists believe that individuals are socially self conscious, and construct their social world through meaningful interaction and interpretation, rather than being the passive recipients of external social structures. As such, interactionist theory provides a refreshing explanation of society which overcomes many of the problems of earlier theories. It has made a massive contribution to sociology both on a theoretical and methodological level, although it is important to remember that “interactionism” is not a unified perspective, and actually has many different intellectual strands. Phenomenology for example, is a branch of interactionism which proposes that “things” have no intrinsic meaning in themselves, and mean only what they are taken to mean by social actors. Extending on this, ethnomethodologists believe that social order is extremely fragile, and only exists because people share “commonsense assumptions” about social life. When these assumptions are challenged however, stability can be undermined, as demonstrated by Garfinkel’s “breaching experiments”, where he got students to behave like lodgers in their own homes, which resulted in responses of confusion and anger. Such theories...
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...Research Paper Gay Parenting and Assisted Reproductive Techniques: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective Introduction Gay rights have become a prevalent issue within the last decade. In the United States, gay marriage has been legalized in five states. With this has come a flurry of accompanying issues that must be addressed, this includes gay and lesbian fertility rights. Many gay and lesbian couples undergo assisted reproductive techniques (ARTs) in order to have children. In the United States, fertility clinics are privatized, this means, among other things, that doctors have the right to pick and choose whom they take on as patients. There is no guarantee for gay couples seeking fertility treatment; many couples trying to have a baby are turned away based on how a doctor feels about same sex families. As it stands, no physician or hospital receiving government funding can discriminate against a patient based on his or her race, color, religion or national origin (Appel, 2006). It goes against the human rights of the potential patient to discriminate against them based on their sexual orientation. How do anti gay legislation further conceptualize the idea the nuclear family? Using a Symbolic Interactionist perspective, this paper looks at how gay and lesbian families use family symbols and rituals as strategies to negotiate family identity in interactions with families of origin, social network members, and community institutions, as well as challenge hetero-normative...
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...institutions that deal with people with social and personal problems always act in the interests of those they serve? Discuss through the ideas of Erving Goffman and Michel Foucault. Introduction This essay will concentrate on the works of Erving Goffman and Michel Foucault. Erving Goffman is seen as the sociologist of the micro level and Foucault at the macro level. What this essay will aim to do is to distinguish the works of both these sociologists and identify the concepts that both try to portray. When speaking in relation to the works of Erving Goffman, one must speak about his studies of the self and the identity that one creates in society. He speaks of how people are actors and that performances are what the people see and thus creating the self identity of one self. Performance is the key area which Goffman speaks about in his writings. From here, the essay will establish how institutions have an effect on certain societies and what happens to identity once someone enters into an institution and the meaning of total institution and will incorporate the work of Foucault. Michel Foucault looks at the long term history of madness, asylums and prisons. The essay will elaborate on Foucault by discussing what he says in relation to where and why such institutions came about, thus the effects that they have on an individual. Erving Goffman Identity “I shall consider the way in which the individual in ordinary works situations presents himself and his activity to others, the ways...
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...Pages LIST OF FIGURES…………….....……………………………………………iii 1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………..1 1.1 What is Musculinism…………………………..………………………..1 1.2 Branded Masculinity…………………………………………………….1 2. MASCULINISM AND ADVERTISING………………………………………...2 3. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………..3 4. BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………...4 LIST OF FIGURES Page Fig 1 Old Spice, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, 2010. ………………….2 INTRODUCTION 1.1 What is masculinism? Masculinity is a word that describes an idea generated by the media of what it entails to be a man. According to Cohen(2001:5) “a gender is formed by shared beliefs or models of gender that majority of society accepts as appropriate”. Gender ideals are socially constructed in specific historical and cultural context and changes over time and location. As identified by Brannon (1976) being a hegemonic masculine male entails four main themes: (i) No Sissy Stuff: men must never resemble women or display stereotypical characteristics of a woman. Kimmel (2001:35) suggests that “Homophobia is a centralised principle of our cultural definition of manhood.” (ii) The Big Wheel: the ability of real men to obtain wealth, fame, success and status. Typically determined by occupation. (iii) The Sturdy Oak: manliness, confidence and self reliance. (iv) and Give ‘Em Hell: using acts of aggression and violence to obtain sex from women. 1.2 Branded Masculinity In todays modern age although still much the same...
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...Action Theories - Theory and methods This is not a structural theory. Action theories focus on individual behaviour in everyday social situations. This is a bottom up approach – looking at meanings and interpretations of actions. There are many branches of action theories; Symbolic interactionism, Labelling theory, Dramturgical model, Phenomenology, Ethnomethodology, Structuration theory and Webe’rs integrated approaches Key features: 1. Society and social structures/ institutions are socially constructed (family does not exist externally to our daily lives) 2. People have free will to do things and form their own identities 3. Prefer to research on small groups of individuals (micro) 4. People’s behaviour is driven by their beliefs, meaning and emotions gives to a situation. e.g how mother interprets crying of baby, meaning of the cry will affect her actions and the babies behaviour will affect the mother Symbolic interactionism This focuses on how we create the world through our interactions. Our interactions are based on the meaning we give to situations and we can convey this through symbols like language. G. H. Mead – The Role of Others – Symbols vs Instincts Symbols versus instincts: * Animals are guided through instinct whereas we are guided by our responses to the world in the form of meanings we attach to significant things. * We create the world by attaching symbols to meanings we have attached. The symbol of putting a finger to your...
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...In the 1960’s, labelling theory provided explanations as to why deviance exists in society. Interactionists argue that labelling and societal reaction are relatively important in terms of individual’s actions, however, traditional positivists oppose this view and argue that labelling theory illustrates the inequality in the social structure as well as unequal power relations. Labelling theorists therefore argue that deviance is socially constructed. Becker’s concept of the labelling theory highlights that “social groups create deviance by making the rules” therefore suggesting that there is no such thing as a deviant act and that it is the societal response to the act that defines whether or not the act is labelled it as such. Becker used the act of nudity as an example to illustrate his view on deviance – when a husband and wife are naked together in their bedroom, it is deemed normal as they are in the privacy of their own bedroom, however, if a stranger enters, it then becomes deviant. This therefore shows the relative nature of crime and deviance as it depends on the context and the meaning attached. Becker believes that deviance lay in the interaction between the person who commits the act and those who respond to it, however, Marxists argue that deviance occurs because agents of social control such as the police reflect the ideas of the ruling class. He examined the effects of being publically labelled as deviants and his findings saw the emergence of a master status-...
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...Outline labelling theory and consider its usefulness in understanding youth crime and anti-social behaviour in Britain today. Labelling theory claims that deviance and conformity results not so much from what people do but from how others respond to those actions, it highlights social responses to crime and deviance Macionis and Plummer, (2005).Deviant behaviour is therefore socially constructed. This essay will describe in full the labelling theory and comment on the importance of the theory to the deviant behaviour of the youth and the anti-social behaviour of the youth in Britain today. The labelling theory becomes dominant in the early 1960s and the late 1970s when it was used as a sociological theory of crime influential in challenging orthodox positivity criminology. The key people to this theory were Becker and Lement.The foundations of this view of deviance are said to have been first established by Lement, (1951) and were subsequently developed by Becker, (1963).As a matter of fact the labelling theory has subsequently become a dominant paradigm in the explanation of devience.The symbolic interaction perspective was extremely active in the early foundations of the labelling theory. The labelling theory is constituted by the assumption that deviant behaviour is to be seen not simply as the violation of a norm but as any behaviour which is successfully defined or labelled as deviant. Deviance is not the act itself but the response others give to that act which means deviance...
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...9/22/14 Social Transformation Social Change Hunter Gatherers Symbiosis with “nature” Horticultural: Domesticated plants Pastoral: Domesticated animals H+B= Agricultural Revolution Specialized labor Empire E= Industrial Revolution • Mechanical labor • Surplus goods Present: Post • Information/Economy • Specialized Knowledge Bio-Tech Society • Changing human biology/genome 9/24/14 Social Construction of Reality Thomas Theorem- Definition of the situation Perception are reality: People can occupy the same social space but perceive a different reality Background Assumptions Stereotypes: Cultural assumptions Ethnomethodology Emotional disrupting creativity Dramaturgy Goffman- Life is a con game Impression Management One person’s attempt to control the perceptions of others Front- Social acting Backstage- Preparing Proxemics-Personal Space Proxemic Bubble 4 Rings Intimate Space Personal Zone Social Space Public 9/26/14 Social Groups Two or more people Share like activities and common goals Possesses the spirit of “WE” In-Group (US): Group to which you are a member Out-Group (THEM): People outside or opposed/in competition with your group Typology of Groups Primary (Close Association) Intimate Long-lasting Expressive- emotional connection Secondary (Loose Association) Super revival Short-Duration Instrumental- Task-oriented ...
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...CHAPTER II Review of Related Literature and Study Related Literature Foreign Literature Marketing scholars Schau and Gilly (2003) write that, “we may indeed be what we haveself-presented, but we are also a great deal more” (p. 387). The research of this study exploresthe reasons why Facebook users are prone to emphasize particular aspects of their identity and“remove tags” from areas inconsistent with their constructed being. Engaging in online identity construction allows users to define themselves by more thanjust their actual identity schemas, labels we place on ourselves (e.g. student, mother or husband).Instead, Facebook provides users the opportunity to share interests, ideas (blog), appealingimages, and their identity amongst a public network. Users manage forums such as Facebook toproduce their desired image by communicating through symbolic, digital stimuli. In what Schau and Gilly (2003) refer to as “authenticating acts or self-referential behaviors, users feel free toreveal their true self, and frequently multiple selves” online (386). In this manner, users select the best representations of themselves to strengthen the link between their actual and their ideal(desired) identity. Creating an online representation of oneself with linguistic content, imagery and brand associations, users consider their self-concept, “our mental conception of whom we are” (Hoyer and MacInnis, 2007, p.54). With their self-concept schema; users are prone to activate the ideal...
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...SEE HOW WE CAN HELP Outline labelling theory and consider its usefulness in understanding youth crime and anti-social behaviour in Britain today. Outline labelling theory and consider its usefulness in understanding youth crime and anti-social behaviour in Britain today. Labelling theory claims that deviance and conformity results not so much from what people do but from how others respond to those actions, it highlights social responses to crime and deviance Macionis and Plummer, (2005).Deviant behaviour is therefore socially constructed. This essay will describe in full the labelling theory and comment on the importance of the theory to the deviant behaviour of the youth and the anti-social behaviour of the youth in Britain today. The labelling theory becomes dominant in the early 1960s and the late 1970s when it was used as a sociological theory of crime influential in challenging orthodox positivity criminology. The key people to this theory were Becker and Lement.The foundations of this view of deviance are said to have been first established by Lement, (1951) and were subsequently developed by Becker, (1963).As a matter of fact the labelling theory has subsequently become a dominant paradigm in the explanation of devience.The symbolic interaction perspective was extremely active in the early foundations of the labelling theory. The labelling theory is constituted by the assumption that deviant behaviour is to be seen not simply as the violation of a norm but...
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...Terra Runyan Walmart pulls 'Naughty Leopard' Halloween costume made for TODDLERS after complaints from outraged parents (September 26, 2013) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2432913/Walmart-pulls-Naughty-Leopard-Halloween-costume-TODDLERS-complaints-outraged-parents.html#ixzz2iht9tRma Naughty: behaving badly, guilty of disobedience or misbehavior. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/naughty) A word that used to mean “misbehaving” has now been sexualized. How has a word that once meant to behave badly, turned sexual? What does this mean for people now? In this paper I will use symbolic interactionism to explain the article. In the “…Naughty Leopard…” article it describes how the toddler costume is stirring up controversy within the parenting community. The word “naughty” has been put on a package next to a toddler girl, wearing a black dress with leopard trim, and leopard ears. Parents believe that by using the term “naughty” Walmart is trying to “sexualize” our children. The costume has been pulled from the shelves, and a spokesman for Walmart has apologized and said “It was never our intention to offend anyone and we apologize to any customers who may have been offended by the name of our costume”. Let’s look back at the history of the term. The word “naughty” during the 16th century meant "unhealthy, unpleasant, bad (with respect to weather), vicious (of an animal), inferior, or bad in quality". In the early days in Middle England, the word “naughti”...
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...Deviant Behavior Social disorganization BIBLIOGRAPHY Both “deviant behavior” and “social disorganization” have been variously defined, but there have been few efforts to distinguish between the two concepts. In fact, it has been suggested that they are not different, that along with “social problems*’ and the somewhat outmoded “social pathology,” they signify only a potpourri of conditions that are considered undesirable from the standpoint of the observer’s values, conditions that vary at different times and with different observers. According to this view, these terms have no scientific value and no legitimate status as sociological concepts. Such nihilism and counsel of despair are not justified. True, there is no consensus on the meaning of these terms, and they are, indeed, burdened with value connotations. However, they point to a number of distinctions that sociology must take into account. Concept of deviance. Turning first to the concept of deviant behavior, we must distinguish among the several definitions of the term, which are discussed below. Behavior that violates norms. Deviant behavior is behavior that violates the normative rules, understandings, or expectations of social systems. This is the most common usage of the term and the sense in which it will be used here. Crime is the prototype of deviance in this sense, and theory and research in deviant behavior have been concerned overwhelmingly with crime. However, normative rules are inherent in...
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...Outline labelling theory and consider its usefulness in explaining crime and deviance. Labelling theory claims that deviance and conformity results not so much from what people do but from how others respond to those actions, it highlights social responses to crime and deviance. Macionis and Plummer, (2005) said deviant behaviour is therefore socially constructed. The labelling theory is used as a sociological theory of crime influential in challenging positivity criminology. The key people to this theory were Becker and Lement. The foundations of this view of deviance are said to have been first established by Lement, (1951) and were subsequently developed by Becker, (1963).As a matter of fact the labelling theory has subsequently become a dominant example in the explanation of deviance. The symbolic interaction perspective was extremely active in the early foundations of the labelling theory. The labelling theory is constituted by the assumption that deviant behaviour is to be seen not simply as the violation of a norm but as any behaviour which is successfully defined or labelled as deviant. Deviance is not the act itself but the response others give to that act which means deviance is in the eyes of the beholder. Actually the labelling theory was built on Becker, (1963:9) statement that "Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders----deviance is...
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...Research Topic IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT Narrated By Serhat Turken Business Project Course – Individual Study OUTLINE * Abstract * Definition of Impression Management * Historical Background of Impression Management * Interactions with other Social Sciences * Impression Management Strategies and Tactics * Daily Life and Impression Management * Business Life and Impression Management * Conclusion * Bibliography Abstract Impression management, the process by which people control the impressions others form of them, plays an important role in interpersonal behavior. All kinds of organisations consist of individuals with variety of personal characteristics; therefore, those are important to manage them effectively that identifying the behavior manner of each, interactions among them, and interpersonal relations on the basis of impressions given and taken. This essay presents the impression management concept in an explanatory view that examined in six chapters – Definition of impression management (IM), Historical background of IM, Interactions with other social sciences, Impression management strategies and tactics, Daily life and IM, and Business life and IM.- Each section discusses the related area with the examples and quotes...
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...SOCIOLOGY – AQA – UNIT 4 - CRIME AND DEVIANCE The exam is split into 3 questions: • Q.1 is a pure methods section which contains two parts a) 12 marks and b) 21 marks. You should spend 45 minuets on this question. • Q.2 is a method in context question. Part a) is for 9 marks [could also be a 3 and 6 mark question] and part b) is for 15 marks. You should spend 30 minuets on this question. • Q.3 is a theories essay for 33 marks. THIS QUESTION IS SYNOPTIC! You should spend 45 minuets on this question. Below is a list of all the areas and studies you need to know for each section of the exam. Don’t worry if you don’t know all the studies, each college/school are likely to teach slightly different ones, just make sure you know about that amount for each section. Q.1 For the first two pure crime parts you need to know: Functionalist theories of crime and deviance Durkheim – Social control, social regulation including suicide Merton-Strain theory, blocked aspirations Cohen – Status frustration Cloward and Ohlin – Deviant subcultures New Right/Right Realism James Wilson – Strict law enforcement needed Wilson and Kelling – Broken windows, zero tolerance Murray – Cultural deprivation, single parents and ineffective, the underclass Erdos – Families without fathers Subcultural theories Cohen – Delinquent subcultures Cloward and Ohlin – Delinquency and opportunity, criminal, conflict and retreatist...
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